Card-index.



' PATENTED JAN. 20,1903. R. L. HUNTER.

CARD INDEX APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1901.- no MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

, R. L. HUNTER. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903.

CARD INDEX.

NOM'ODELI APPLICATION FILED NQV. 21, 1901. SHEETS SH'BET 2- ZZZZEZZ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. HUNTER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CARD-INDEX.

MEEOIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,630, dated January 20, 1903.

Original application filed January 1O 1901, Serial No. 42,749. No. 83,170.

Divided and this application filed November 21, 1901. Serial (No model.)

1'0 aZZ whom it Wmy concern;

Be it known that I, ROBERT L. HUNTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, county of Ouyahoga, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Indexes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the boxes or trays for card-indexes or catalogues, and has particular reference to the provision of an expansible looking or retaining member for securing the cards in the box or tray and which may be readily applied to the common form'of box or tray or removed therefrom. I

Expansible locking devices for card -indexes as heretofore constructed have necessitated either a deep cut in the cards or a complicated operation of the locking device when inserting and removing cards from the boX or tray.

The object of my invention is to provide an expansible looking or retaining means which necessitates but shallow cuts or slots in the index-cards and at the same time requires but a simple manipulation, asby the turning of a thumb-nut, to operate the same.

A further object of my invention is to so arrange the parts of the expansible looking or retaining device that they shall be selfcontained and adapted for ready application to and removal from the common form of box or tray.

Further purposes and advantages of my invention and the details thereof will be more definitely pointed outin the following description,andtheinvention will be furtherdcfined in the accompanying claims.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, and in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing my invention applied to'a common form of card box or tray, the side of the latter being shown broken away. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the expansible looking or retaining device, the upper part being broken away to more clearly show, the locking-strips. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section showing the position of the operating mechanism of the looking or retaining device in the box or tray. Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse section on lines 4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section on line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is an enlarged transverse section on line 6 6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7isaperspective view showing the connection between the returningspring and a locking-strip. Fig. 8 is a perspective vieW of the front end of the looking or retaining device, showing the operating mechanism therefor. Fig. 9 illustrates, on an enlarged scale, a latch for securing the locking or retaining device in the box or tray. Figs. 10 and 11 are longitudinal and transverse sections, respectively, of the follower.

As shown in the drawings, 2 represents a box or tray of the usual preferred form, having grooves 3 near the bottoms of the longitudinal sides for the reception of lugs or projections iatthe ends of followero. For holding the follower in position behind the cards I provide two spring-pressed plungers 6 in vertical sockets near the face of the follower nearest the cards. The bottom of the follower is padded with cloth or felt, through which the plungers exert force upon the bottom of the box or tray, tending to tilt the follower and causing projections 4 to cramp in the grooves 3. In the middle of the bottom edge of the follower I provide a rectangular recess 7, having notches 8 near the upper part thereof for the free passage of the card looking or retaining device 9. The looking or retaining device 9 comprises'a bar 10, preferably of greater width than height, provided with narrow longitudinal grooves 11 in its opposite sides for the reception of the locking strips or blades 12. The grooves 11 are located as near the top of bar 10 as possible, so that the locking strips or blades 12, carried therein, when projected may engage notches in the cards corresponding to notches 8 of the follower, near the top of the recesses in the same. The blades or strips 12 are provided with cam-slots 13 and ride upon and are held by cam pins or nails 14. The blades or strips 12 are usually projected, as shown in Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6, being maintained in this position by the action of springs 15, located in a recess in the bottom of bar 10. These springs have their ends respectively attached to a transverse pin 10 in the bar 10 and to curled lugs struck from the metal blades or strips 12. It is obvious that if the blades or strips 12 are drawn forward they will be contracted or drawn within the bar 10 by the operation of the cam-slots 13 and pins 14: and free the cards held thereby. To draw these blades or strips forward, I provide a sliding plate 17in the forward end of the bar 10 and connect the same with the blades or strips 12 by means of pins 18, carried by said plate, which engage in transverse slots 19 in the ends of the blades or strips 12. The plate 17 is bifurcated, as shown in Figs. 2 and 8, to straddle the solid middle part of bar 10 between the grooves 11. The plate 17 is provided with a sleeve 20, accommodated by a notch 21 in the forward end of bar 10. The sleeve 20 contains a pin or feather 22, which engagesa spiral groove 23 in the revoluble stem 24 of the thumb-nut 25, and when the thumb-nut is turned the sleeve 20, plate 17, and the strips or blades 12 will be drawn for ward by the action of the spiral groove on the pin or feather 22. I prefer to use a yoke 26 on the forward end of bar 10 to furnish a hearing for the forward end of the operating-stem of the thumbmut and to hold the same in place when the bar is removed from the box or tray. The near end of the operating-stem is provided with a small pivot 27 to hold the same in place relative to the end of the bar 10. To permit the easy insertion or removal of the bar 10 and parts connected thereto, I make an aperture 28 in the forward end of the box or tray, and this aperture is normally closed by a latch or plate 29, pivoted at one end upon a screw or pin, and having a notch at its other end to engage a screw or pin. At the middle of plate 29 I provide a notch 30 to receive the operating-stem 2a and lock the bar 10 in position after the same has been inserted in the box or tray. The rear end of the bar is held in position by the follower or, if desired, it may be secured by a screw.

It is obvious that my locking or retaining device may be made a permanent fixture of the card box or tray, and in such case the hole 28 will only be of a size to admit the operating-shank, and the plate 29 may be dispensed with. It is also obvious that my invention admits of various modifications that will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, and I accordingly do not confine my invention to the specific construction herein shown and described.

This is a divisional application, the subject-matter having been first described and claimed in my pending application, entitled Cross-index, Serial No.42,71-9, filed January 10, 1901.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a tray or box with an expansible card looking or retaining device in the bottom thereof and comprising a grooved bar, locking strips or blades having cam-slots and slidable in the grooves of said bar, cam-pins in said bar and means for moving said strips or blades longitudinally to project the same or retract them in said grooves, substantially as described.

2. A card locking or retaining device comprising a grooved bar, locking strips or blades adapted to enter said grooves, means for moving said strips or blades longitudinally, consisting of a thumb-nut having a spirallygrooved stem, a sleeved plate adapted to engage said stem and said strips or blades and means for moving said strips or blades toward and from each other as they are moved 1ongitudinally, substantially as described.

The combination with a box or tray of a bar 10 provided in the bottom thereof and having grooves 11 in its sides, the strips or blades 12 slidable in said grooves and having cam-slots, cam-pins in said bar and means for operating said strips or blades to project the same or retract them into their grooves, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a box or tray of a bar 10 in the bottom thereof, expanding strips or blades slidable in and normally projecting from the sides of said bar, the returningsprings 15 and means for positively operating and retracting said strips or blades within the outline of the bar, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the box ortray of the bar 10 provided with the slid-able and retractable strips or blades 12, the sliding plate to which said strips or blades are connected, the sleeve and the spiral cam-stem in said sleeve, whereby said sliding parts are operable, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a box or tray with a bar 10 of greater width than height and provided with longitudinal grooves in its sides, strips or blades slidable in said grooves and means for positively moving said strips or blades toward and from each other and projecting them from said grooves or retracting the same therein, substantially as described.

7. The com bination with a box or tray,having grooves 3 in its sides, of the follower 5 provided with lugs or projections land having a cloth-padded bottom and the spring-actuated plungers 6 contained in said follower, substantially as described.

8. The combination with a box or tray, of a follower 5 slidably engaging the sides of said box or tray and provided with a cloth-padded bottom and spring-actuated plungers 6 adapted to bear upon said cloth bottom and tilt the said follower, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, this 20th day of August, 1001.

ROBERT L. HUNTER.

\Vitnesses:

O. G. HAWLEY, J. W. BEoKsTRoM. 

